Dr. Alfred L. Watkins is the retired Director of Bands at Lassiter High School in Marietta, Georgia for 31 of his 37 years. He is currently Co-Founder, Musical Director and Conductor of the Cobb Wind Symphony, an all-adult community band in Metro Atlanta. Mr. Watkins is a 1976 graduate of Florida A & M University. In July 2022, he was conferred an Honorary Doctorate from the VanderCook College of Music.

His bands have earned the Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Flag of Honor for concert band, Sudler Shield for marching and the Sudler Silver Scroll for community band. Concert bands under Watkins’ leadership have performed at 32 invitational concert band events and he has conducted All-State High School Bands in 34 states.

Ensembles under Dr. Watkins’ batons have performed five times at the Midwest Band Clinic, and six times at the Music for All National Festival and nine performances at the G.M.E.A. Conventions. The Lassiter Trojan Marching Band has performed in the Tournament of Roses Parades (4x) and in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (3x). They are the 1998 and 2002 Bands of America Grand National Marching Band Champions. They were winners of nine BOA Regionals and won the Sweepstakes Award in 141 of 151 marching competition entered. The Lassiter Winter Color Guard was named the 1996 and 1997 W.G.I. World Champions and won 9 WGI Regional titles. The Lassiter Concert Percussion Ensemble has performed twice at the Percussive Arts Society and the Midwest Clinic.

Dr. Watkins is a member of the American Bandmasters Association, FAMU Gallery of Distinguished Alumni and in the Hall of Fames of Bands of America, Conn Selmer Institute and Minority Band Directors National Association. He has received Midwest Clinic Medal of Honor, the “Edwin Franko Goldman Award,” and the Kappa Kappa Psi Band Fraternity’s “Distinguished Service to Music Award.” He has received 28 Certificates of Excellence from the NBA.

Dr. Watkins is a Co-Founder of Minority Band Directors National Association, a national organization charged to serve, promote, mentor and celebrate ethnic minority band directors in the U.S. There are two doctoral dissertations registered at Florida State and Auburn Universities written about him and his work with the Lassiter Band. In 1988, Watkins pioneered the concept of the Symphonic Band Camp, a 3-day intensive local event dedicated to the development of concert bands and implemented by scores of school bands throughout the country.

The $1.5 million Alfred L. Watkins Band Building at Lassiter High School bears his name. He and his wife of 41 years, Rita, live in Marietta, GA. They have two adult sons: Christopher, a trumpeter in the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, D.C. and Jonathan, a businessman in Atlanta. They  have two grandchildren.